Software Review: Google Squared

Learn about Google's newest search feature. It's called "Google Squared".

New Search Features from Google, Inc.
     Google has plenty of cool little features that populate its domain.
     The newest one to hit search is Google Squared.

What do you get when you combine a spreadsheet with a search engine?
    What Google has done is to combine spreadsheets with searching.
    Try it out.
    Google searches your query across the web and compiles your results into a spreadsheet replete with categories.

Snapshot of Google Squared results on bars in NOLA

    I tried to search for bars in New Orleans.
It could be helpful if you're creating a travel guide.

1. How about Academy Awards for Best Picture?
2. Recipes for grilled shrimp?

It does those queries pretty well.

How does Google Squared Work?
     Google extrapolates data from existing websites. For example, if I search for "Academy Award Best Picture winners" Google takes snippets from websites to create captions with visuals. The description for Best Picture winner comes by default from Wikipedia but I can alter where Google fetches results by choosing an alternative source.
     I can also add or delete fields as well. For my Best Picture square, I can add run times for each film, language, country of origin and other fields.
     Don't expect much for "future dates" or "winning lottery tickets" though.
     The search feature is cool though it's still obviously experimental. It's not so great when I need to modify data. I found it difficult to add new fields that Google had not created by default.
     But, it works well for getting started on a research project. Or for brainstorming quick ideas.
     It also works well when the search engine "understands" your query. Sometimes you create a square, say, best colleges for basketball scholarships, and you end up with a list of basketball players. Not necessarily what you're looking for.
     The great thing about Google Squared, however, is the ability to create a Square and export it as a Google Spreadsheet so you can save your work for later, tweak fields, or add data later to sophisticate your list. Once a Square has been exported, I can share my results, post to a blog, or even create a durable weblink like any other Google Document.

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Poem: Desk # 2

He widens his

eyes

to answer

questions

like children who lean

into reading circles for

storytime

by Greig Roselli

In Memoriam: Mo

I taught a boy named Mo. He was fourteen years old when he died. This post is in his memory.

A young man in our theater troupe died a year ago today. We called him "Mo". But his real is Mohammed Charlot. He was fourteen years old. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. This page serves as a memory to him. The photograph was taken before he went on stage as Arthur in our high school production of Sword in the Stone.

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Repost: The Shortest Story Ever Told

Never worn. For sale. Baby shoes.

-Ernest Hemingway
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Don't Tweet on Auto-Pilot

courtesy of Airplane! the movie

Status frenzy pervades. Twitter boasts 6 million registered users. Myspace will surpass 50 million in May. Facebook clocks 200 million users. So think before you tweet. I'm not saying censor what you tweet. I believe in the freedom of expression. But, please, at least make your status expressive and not dull.

For Twitter, 6 million does not sound like much action compared to the legion signed into Facebook. But, before you dismiss the power of Twitter, consider the difference between the two. They are not the same beast. Twitter is a status tool. Only. Facebook is many things. Bloat. Twitter does one thing and it does it well: tells the world what you're doing. Economy.

6 million people typing out what they're doing is pretty powerful, considering most of what people write, even what celebrities write. Type a few words like, "I'm cooking lamb chops for the kids" or more profound, "I am" then click update and everyone on the planet has access to the contents of your mind at that moment. Even the Library of Congress knows the power of status. They have begun to archive every twitter status update into a database designed to perpetually capture web activity for future posterity's sake.

Does that mean Lady Gaga is making history? We really care what she's wearing? Who will we care more about in the future? Will the blazing status of today measure up to the blazing status of tomorrow? So, who cares that in a hundred years, our future citizens will be able to read what you made for dinner?

So, for those of you who tweet on auto-pilot and add nothing new or creative to the online world, listen up. We don't want your "k" and "um" anymore.

It's time to brush up on our status-making skills.

Stuff to remember if you tweet on auto-pilot:

• Make the mundane interesting. Instead of an "About to eat!" tweet, "The meatballs my mom cooks look like the face of my Biology teacher"!
• Avoid speling errors. See how BAD my sentence looks? Avoid spelling errors. There. Much better,
• Do not tweet by compulsion. In other words, only tweet when the feeling or need arises. It's a moment of, "Oh, let me tweet that!" not "Should I tweet that?"
• Remember everyone probably has tweeted the most fascinating and provocative news bits from the web. So when you retweet, add your two cents to the headline. Retweet: Read this article, it's smexy! http://tinyurl.com/2w7s4sr
•  Use tinyurl. Really. It's so much better than long-ass URLs. And you can use the less character usage to your advantage.
• Make conscientious, well-thought-out responses to other people's posts. Don't be rude. Be kind. Mean people suck.
• If you don't want what you say traced back to you, don't say it.
• Don't tweet just an emoticon. :-)
• Link your facebook to your twitter to share the love.
• Link your website or blog to your twitter using feedburner to share what you've been creating to a larger audience.

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Haiku in Honor of National Poetry Month

Trees staring upward
Like tops spinning in circles
Empties our love out

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Photograph & Rant: "Sharpen Your Mind!"

In this post, I supply a photograph I took of a battered pencil sharpener along with a short quip on a sharpener's importance in a teacher's classroom.

An orange, beat-up pencil sharpener is affixed to a wall.

Even in the age of computers, it is still nice to know pencil sharpeners have a use. Any classroom teacher will tell you that one of the more valuable objects in their possession is the pencil sharpener — many are affixed to the wall so no one will take it away.

image credit: Greig Roselli © 2010

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